You Call This Healing
by lackam
Summary: Aragorn discovers something unpleasant about his new kingdom after Elrond threatens to take Arwen home.


Title: You Call This Healing  
Author: amber  
Beta: Oli  
Rating: PG-13 for grossness  
Characters: Aragorn, Elrond, Mithrandir  
Disclaimer: All main characters are Tolkien's; I am only borrowing them.  
Summary: Aragorn discovers something unpleasant about his new home.

Warning: I would not recommend eating while reading this.

"If that man thinks I am going to surrender my daughter to someone who rules over such a ghoulish people he is wrong," Elrond shouted as he paced the room and took another long swig from the bottle of Dwarven brandy he was carrying.

"Elladan, Elrohir, find your sister and escort her from the city back to Lothlorien while your father and I deal with this abomination," ordered Celeborn slurrily as he had already finished his first bottle. Then he passed another bottle to Haldir and Glorfindel. "Here have some more Glorfindel; maybe it will settle your stomach."

"I hate humans," Haldir repeated as he rocked back and forth while opening the new bottle.

Mithrandir surveyed the scene with the twins and wondered what could have happened to cause such a ruckus. As far as he had last known, Elrond and Celeborn had finally agreed to the marriage. Now he understood why the twins had sent for him.

"What were they doing before all of this started?" the Istari inquired. Elrond had not protested when the chance had come at the wedding and all had thought he had resigned himself to the loss of his daughter but something had obviously changed.

"They were supposed to go to the healing halls on the lower levels and help there with some advanced cases that the healers here had given up on," Elladan explained.

Aragorn rushed up angrily and started into the room when Mithrandir stopped him.

"They destroyed one of my healing halls," Aragorn stated to explain his mood. "The healers came to me and said that instead of helping them, they destroyed the place."

Arwen came rushing up next along with Galadriel. They were surrounded by a group of elvish guards.

"What is going on?" Arwen asked. "We left the gardens below and while returning to our level, were accosted by an angry group of healers. If not for grandmother's personal guard, we would have not escaped."

Galadriel had taken one look into the room and gone to investigate. She was shocked by the condition of her family, Glorfindel, and Haldir. Coming to the door, she addressed Mithrandir in an angry tone.

"They are all in extreme shock. What has happened to them?" she demanded to know.

"They went to help some of the healers who were having problems in the lower level healing halls," Aragorn answered. "I know not what happened but I have received angry demands from those healers saying that the Elves destroyed their halls rather than help."

"Then that is where we should go to find out what happened," Mithrandir said. "Arwen, you and Galadriel stay here with your guard to oversee your family. Aragorn, the twins, and I will take a group of soldiers and investigate."

Eomer and Faramir had joined them in the hall by this time after hearing about the commotion and volunteered to accompany the group along with some of there best warriors. There were rumors of unrest in the lower levels since the "attack" and they wanted to help. As the group descended the different levels towards the appointed healing hall, they began to notice a curious mixture of emotions among the people. Some were angry but others seemed embarrassed and shameful. There were some that even seemed glad that the halls had been destroyed. The people's reactions caused more questions than provided answers, and they prepared themselves for anything.

Upon arrival at the lowest level, they encountered a group of healers who were pulling broken furniture out of the halls. All were extremely dirty and looked like they hadn't washed in weeks. They also began to notice the repugnant smell of rotten flesh. Looking amongst themselves, they began to wonder what they would discover. As they entered, they all had to cover their noses and mouths as the smell increased dramatically. Looking around, all were shocked at the conditions they saw. Aragorn had to admit to himself that even he would have been appalled if coming across these conditions in a healing hall but still did not see anything that justified destroying anything.

A senior healer rushed up to them after realizing who they were and took glee in telling them that the worst damage had been done to their training rooms in the back. He gladly offered to lead them there and was signaled to go ahead. Upon entrance, what they saw shocked them. Faramir and Eomer along with several of the guard turned and ran for the outside door before they were sick. Mithrandir began cursing in a language unknown to any but full of strength and power. Aragorn could only stare at the horror of what he saw in shock before even he ran for the door before becoming sick.

Elladan and Elrohir were rooted to the spot by what they witnessed going on in the corner of the room. A group of children sat before a large pile of body parts as they pulled dead flesh from them and ate it. There was evidence from the pile of parts that this was not a one time fluke but a normal practice. The head healer of the halls was running on like nothing was wrong explaining that this was the training area where they brought dug up corpses to be cut up for examination. He pointed proudly at the parts hanging from the ceiling saying he was even able to make money selling them for meat when times were bad.

Mithrandir finally decided that he had had enough and it was time to end this abomination. Ordering the remaining King's men and elves out, he walked to the outer door and ordered those outside away. Raising his staff, he uttered words in a language none understood. The building promptly burst into very intense flames. The heat was so hot that it drove everyone back across the street. The Istari kept the flames burning for roughly ten minutes before lowering his arms. As the flames died away, it was discovered that the entire building, stone and all, had been devoured. Then he turned to look expectantly at Aragorn.

"I will order immediate inspections of all the other healing halls in the city," he said without preamble. "Faramir will give the order to place guards around all burial sights until further notice. Any other halls where these practices are going on will be destroyed. I will not allow evil abominations like this to continue for any reason."

Imrahil who had come upon the sick Eomer and Faramir pledged to do the same in his domain as Eomer concurred. When all were steady enough, they returned to the palace to recover. The twins headed to their father's rooms to check on their family while Aragorn called an emergency meeting of his council to address this problem. The Istari retired to his own rooms to replenish and cleanse himself before going to check on the drunken elves.

It was a very subdued group of elves who readied themselves to leave a few days later. Several more healing halls on the lower levels had been destroyed and healers jailed for these abominations. The city seemed to settle as they realized that the king was not going to allow questionable behavior like that found in the healing halls to continue. Arwen had finally, with her grandmother's help, convinced her family that she would be fine staying here in the palace but promised not to leave it without an escort. She also promised not to leave its confines until the unrest has settled once she and Aragorn returned.

When the elves left several days later for Rohan, many silently agreed that it was time to sail. Who wanted to remain in a world run by people who could think of such behavior as normal except when caught? They were glad to be sailing west for they feared for the future of the land they had once called home.


End file.
